


away from the chains that bind us, into a love that blinds us

by just_a_broadway_baby (a_moment_of_such_peace)



Series: ExR Week 2016 Fics [2]
Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Day Two: Liberate, Enjoltaire Week 2016, Everyone Knows That Grantaire Loves Enjolras Except Enjolras, Grantaire Is Aware Of Enjolras's Feelings For Him, M/M, Pining Enjolras, Stuck in a Holding Cell, enjoltaireweek2016, exr week 2016, exrweek2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 20:12:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7120873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_moment_of_such_peace/pseuds/just_a_broadway_baby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>ExR Week 2016 Prompt Two: Liberate</p><p>Enjolras can't think of anything more torturous than being stuck in a holding cell with Grantaire, the boy he's madly in love with, while they wait for Combeferre and Courfeyrac to bail them out. However, maybe this will prove to be more advantageous than he could ever have imagined. Or, that modern AU where Enjolras is pining hard for Grantaire and everyone knows it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	away from the chains that bind us, into a love that blinds us

“Hello?”

“Courfeyrac? It’s Enjolras. I’m in a bit of a fix…”

“What did you do this time?”

Courfeyrac’s voice comes easily through the phone, and, although he does his best to sound exasperated with his friend, amusement is evident in his tone.

“I may have gotten into a bit of an argument with one of our opposers at the protest today…” This is not an uncommon occurrence. Enjolras’s passionate opinions often get in the way of his better judgement, and it would be considered an abnormal protest if he didn’t yell at one or two members of the opposing side of the issue. Today, they were protesting the unfair treatment of the LGBT community in the workplace, which was an especially important topic to Les Amis because many of them, including Enjolras, are members of the community. Unfortunately, Enjolras has never been able to keep his mouth shut when homophobes inevitably opposed their protesting, so this isn’t particularly surprising.

“And?” There was no reason Enjolras wouldn’t be calling from his personal phone unless something else had happened.

“…and it may have gotten a bit physical…”

“AND?”

“…and Grantaire may have decided to join the fight and we may have gotten arrested for disturbing the peace?” He spits this out in about 3 seconds, and Courfeyrac has to process what he said for a moment.

“Oh my god, Enjolras,” he sighs.

“I’m sorry! You need to help me, I’m going to die if I have to spend much longer cooped up in a holding cell with the boy I just happen to have been in love with since our second year of university.”

“You do realize… oh, never mind. I’ll try to pull together bail money with Ferre, we’ll get you out as soon as we can.”

“What were you going to say?”

“Nothing, goodbye Enjolras.” Enjolras is about to ask a second time, but the line goes dead. He hangs up the phone with a sigh and the police officer working the desk looks at him. She studies him for a moment, then nods her head, as if having made a decision.

“You don’t seem stupid,” she says to him in a calm but commanding voice. “What you and your friend did that got you here was kind of, if not incredibly, stupid, but you seem like an intelligent young man. Now that you’re here, I assume you know better than to try to make a break for it, because you can and will be caught and punished in ways much more severe than needing to be bailed out. Because of this, and the fact I’m feeling nice, I’ll give you two options. I can escort you back to your cell like I normally would, and you can face the humiliation of being walked through the prison by me, or you can walk yourself back to your cell, as the cells easily unlock from the outside and lock automatically when closed. It’s your choice, just know that if you escort yourself back and try to pull any fast ones, like releasing fellow prisoners, you will not be able to get out on basic bail.”

“I’ll take the second option, thank you,” he replies.

“Good choice. I’ll let you and your friend out when someone pays your bail.” With that, she unlocks Enjolras’s wrist from the counter and sends him back to the cells.

Enjolras knows his way back to his and Grantaire’s cell better than he should. He has a habit of letting his temper and opinions cloud his sense of judgement, and because of this has been put in one of the holding cells more than once. Inspector Javert was not a huge fan of him, as it was often he and his men who broke up the arguments, but luckily he was busy at a more severe crime and one of the other police teams had arrested him and Grantaire.

The dark haired artist looks up from where he’s sitting on the floor, seemingly drawing pictures in the mud using his finger, when Enjolras slips into the cell, letting the door close behind him.

“Where’s the bitch who took you to the office? Is someone going to bail us out?”

“She decided to trust me to get back on my own. I got ahold of Courfeyrac, and he’s going to have Combeferre help him raise bail money. He said they’ll be here as soon as they can.”

“A horrible decision, really, trusting you, Apollo,” Grantaire jokes. Enjolras glares at him, then sits as far apart from Grantaire as possible. Maybe he will get the message that Enjolras doesn’t want to talk and he can be saved from some of the torture of hearing Grantaire’s voice in places other than just his head.

Being this close to him is painful enough, because the concentration he’s putting into his drawings in the dirt is absolutely adorable, and Enjolras should really look away, but Grantaire is so captivating. A small smile graces his lips, and he laughs quietly, and Enjolras dies a bit inside, because _how is it that this cynical drunkard can be so obnoxious and infuriating, yet consume me so thoroughly?_

Enjolras closes his eyes in an attempt to be able to focus on something other than Grantaire, but this does nothing, and then Grantaire begins quietly singing a song Enjolras recognizes but can’t name, something about lovers and sickness and churches and lies, and his voice is deep and pure and beautiful and heartbreaking, and Enjolras can’t bear how it makes him feel.

They sit in silence for what is probably only half an hour, but it feels like ages of torture to Enjolras, desperately trying to avoid watching the young man sitting across the cell from him.

“If you expect me to sit here quietly until Courf and Ferre show up with the bail money, you clearly don’t know me,” Grantaire says. “We can’t sit in silence forever, or at least I can’t.”

“But I can try,” Enjolras murmurs to himself. “I’m sorry, Grantaire,” he replies louder, sounding much calmer than he feels. “I just have a lot on my mind currently.”

“Like what?” Grantaire sounds concerned, but Enjolras can never be sure with him.

 _Like the fact I’m in love with you and you’ll never feel the same way?_ he thinks. “It’s nothing, you probably won’t understand.” _Plus, I can’t exactly tell you what’s bothering me._

“Try me.”

Enjolras sighs. “First of all, why did you join me in fighting that homophobic asshole this afternoon? You didn’t need to do it, and it was clear that I was going to be arrested already when you joined in.”

“We’ve been in enough arguments in the Musain for you to know that I’m just as bad at keeping my temper under control as you are when it’s something that matters to me. You know as well as I do that our rights and the rights of others in the LGBT community are not equal to those of heterosexual people. If people are going to say that I don’t deserve those rights for who I love, I’m not above fucking them up. Plus, we know you’re not the most strong, athletic, or large person, and I didn’t want to see that asshole beat you up.”

Enjolras makes a dramatically offended face and scoffs. “I’m hurt,” he jokes. “I could have handled him perfectly fine on my own, thank you very little.”

“No you couldn’t have. You’re not much more than a meter and a half, maybe 1.6 meters, and this guy was easily 2 meters tall. Not to mention, he was huge, and you’re built like a stick.”

“Okay, fair point. Thank you for joining me so I didn’t die.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Grantaire smiles, but Enjolras doesn’t miss the hint of sadness in his eyes before his face turns serious. “However, I know you well enough to know that something else is bothering you. What is it?”

Enjolras sighs. _Do I tell him and risk ridicule and him not feeling the same way? He’s bound to find out at some point, why not now? Or, do I lie and say I’m fine? We’ve known each other long enough that he’ll know I’m not, but will he accept it?_ He decides to go with a general approach: no specifics as to who it is, but with plenty of hints to let Grantaire figure it out on his own.

Enjolras breathes deeply, gathering his thoughts. “Have you ever liked someone so much and no matter what they do it drives you crazy? They can just look at you, and you feel like the most exposed human being, like you could shatter into a million pieces if they so much as brushed up against you? And the littlest things they do, like smiling or laughing when they think no one can hear, make you feel like you could die? There’s this boy who I’ve been in love with for a long time, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell him because being near him makes me fall apart, and I feel the most alive when I’m around him and-”

Grantaire suddenly presses his mouth against Enjolras’s, silencing his awkward speech. Enjolras excitedly kisses back, burying his fingers in Grantaire’s curly hair and breathing in his scent: paint, coffee, fresh laundry, a hint of expensive wine, and something he can only describe as warmth. Grantaire’s kisses are rough, bruising, as urgent and hungry as Enjolras’s, full of want and lust and heat, and soon they deepen, Grantaire accidentally biting Enjolras’s lower lip and producing a hissed “fuck” of pleasure. Their mouths fit together like it was predestined for them to be together, kisses full of tongues exploring and saliva intermixing and moans escaping parted lips and breath coming out in short gasps and neither wants to pull away but eventually it becomes too hard for either of them to catch their breath. Both collapse on the floor of the cell they had forgotten they are stuck in, laughing and breathing heavily.

Between breaths, Enjolras manages to get out, “What was that?”

Grantaire laughs. “Well, since I’m unable to liberate you from your holding cell, I thought I could liberate you from some of your internal frustration. Also, I’m not as good with words as you are, and this was the best way I could come up with how to tell you.”

“How were you sure it was you I was talking about?” he asks, quirking an eyebrow and taking Grantaire’s hand.

“Well, you’re not the most subtle person. I’ve been suspicious of your feelings for about a year, and tonight only confirmed it.”

“God, for a smart person, I can be pretty oblivious, can’t I?” Enjolras laughs.

“Pretty damn oblivious,” Grantaire agrees with a smile. “Look, Courf and Ferre probably won’t show up tonight, considering how dark it looks outside already. We should just go to bed, we can finish what we started tonight in the privacy of one our apartments.” He finishes this with a suggestive grin and a raising of his eyebrows.

“Yeah. Good night, Grantaire,” Enjolras smiles, kissing the other young man on the cheek.

“Good night, Enjolras.”

* * *

Combeferre and Courfeyrac show up at 7:00 sharp the next morning to bail out Enjolras and Grantaire. They are led back to the holding cell and find the pair still asleep, Enjolras snuggled up against Grantaire’s chest, Grantaire’s arms wrapped around the smaller boy’s frame. Both have a blissful smile on their faces.

Courfeyrac laughs quietly so as not to wake the couple up, then whispers to Combeferre, “Took them long enough.”

**Author's Note:**

> In case you were wondering, yes, the song Grantaire was singing is "Take Me To Church" by Hozier. It is a song I identify heavily with Enjolras and Grantaire's relationship.


End file.
